air force short tour locations

Home > Awards Home > Air Force Awards > Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon

Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon

 The Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon (AFOR-S) is awarded to recognize completion of an overseas tour. Before 6 January 1986, the ribbon was awarded to Air Force active duty, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard members credited with completion of an overseas tour on or after 1 September 1980. Air Force active duty, ANG and Air Force Reserve members serving as of 6 January 1986, or later are entitled to reflect all Air Force overseas tours credited during their career.  For personnel who extended their original overseas tour and have entered into a DEROS extension or into an IPCOT, award the respective ribbon when the members enters the extension or IPCOT; however, only one award for the entire period overseas is authorized unless the extension or IPCOT results in the member being credited with another overseas tour.  No more than one long and one short tour ribbon will be awarded to any one person. The short tour ribbon takes priority over the long tour ribbon when both are worn.  Authorized Devices: An Oak Leaf Cluster will be worn on either ribbon for subsequent awards, respectively.  An Arctic "A" Device will be worn on the short tour ribbon upon completion of a short tour above the Arctic Circle. Thule Air Base, Greenland, qualifies for this device. The "A" device is awarded to all current Air Force active, Reserve and Guard personnel, serving on duty as of 10 February 2002, regardless of the date of tour completion. When worn alone, the device will be centered on the short tour ribbon. When worn with oak leaf clusters, the "A" device will be worn to the right of the oak leaf clusters on the ribbon. Only one "A" device will be worn, regardless of the number of Arctic tours completed. Note: The Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon is awarded for tours between 181 days up to one year.

Category of Award: Air Force Service Medals and Achievement Awards

Established on: October 12, 1980

Authorized Device(s): Bronze and/or Silver Oak Leaf Cluster and "A" Device

References: AFI 36-2803 , The Air Force Military Awards and Decorations Program, Pages 155 and 156 DoD Manual 1348.33-M , Manual of Military Decorations and Awards, Page 157

Page updated November 17, 2016

U.S. Air Force Ribbons and Medals Order of Precedence

With Military Honors Copyright © 2011-2017 With Military Honors

Author: Master Sgt. Randy L. Mitchell Source: AFPC Source Page

• This temporary exception to the short-tour credit policy applies to what countries?
• How long does a member have to serve to be eligible for award of Short Tour Credit?
• If the member leaves the designated area prior to 181 days, does that mean they will receive no credit for the TDY period?
•  What about the member who must leave the deployed area on emergency leave and returns after two weeks (3 weeks, etc?)
• What about the member who must leave the deployed area for short intervals for mission requirement and then return?
• If a member is deployed to one of the countries identified from a short tour area, do they receive credit for a second short tour if they meet the 181 consecutive day minimum?
• Will members permanently assigned to overseas long tour areas receive both long and short tour credit?
• Are aircrew members who fly within air space designated to receive hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay eligible for the PCS short tour credit for TDY?
• Are guard or reserves members who meet all of the criteria eligible for short tour credit?
•  If I am awarded PCS short tour credit for TDY, will my date arrive station change?
• If a member is TDY to a IDP/HFP area and deploys to another IDP/HTP location (consecutively), will he/she be eligible for the PCS short tour credit?
• Are members TDY in the continental United States who serve 181 days or more consecutively eligible to receive overseas PCS short tour credit?
• Does the recent policy change which makes member ineligible to deploy for 6 months after returning from a PCS unaccompanied overseas short tour apply to those members who are being awarded PCS short tour credit for TDY? The policy directed by the Air Force Chief of Staff on March 25 states members are ineligible to deploy for six-months following their return from a PCS short unaccompanied overseas tour s. A waiver to this requirement must be approved by the major command vice commander.

A: This exception applies to those countries or locations designated as a hostile fire or imminent danger pay area (in accordance with DoD Financial Management Regulation volume 7A, Chapter 10, Figure 10-1, designated hostile fire or imminent danger pay area).

[ Back to Top ]

BASE LOCATOR

Filter by base.

• Air Force Active Duty
• Air National Guard
• Air Force Reserve

United States ( results found )

Service component, europe ( results found ), asia ( results found ), serve across the globe.

With bases across three continents, there’s a whole world of opportunities for Airmen to serve and succeed. Search below to see where your career could take you next.

0 Results found. Try your search again.

Filter by regions

No results found.

All results

We’re ready for you.

Whether you have specific questions about how to join the Air Force, are seeking more information or are ready to apply, we’re here to help.

• Find a Recruiter
• 1-800-423-USAF

HEIGHT AND WEIGHT STANDARDS

• Cover Letters
• Jobs I've Applied To
• Saved Searches
• Subscriptions
• Marine Corps
• Coast Guard
• Space Force
• Military Podcasts
• Benefits Home
• Military Pay and Money
• Veteran Health Care
• VA eBenefits
• Veteran Job Search
• Military Skills Translator
• Upload Your Resume
• Veteran Employment Project
• Vet Friendly Employers
• Career Advice
• Military Life Home
• Military Trivia Game
• Veterans Day
• Spouse & Family
• Military History
• Discounts Home
• Featured Discounts
• Veterans Day Restaurant Discounts
• Electronics
• Join the Military Home
• Contact a Recruiter
• Military Fitness

Air Force Base Guide List

United states.

• Maxwell-Gunter
• Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
• Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
• Luke Air Force Base
• Little Rock
• Beale Air Force Base
• Edwards Air Force Base
• Los Angeles Air Force Base
• March Air Reserve Base
• Travis Air Force Base
• Vandenberg Air Force Base
• Buckley Air Force Base
• Colorado Springs Military Bases
• Peterson Air Force Base
• Schriever Air Force Base
• United States Air Force Academy
• Dover Air Force Base

District of Columbia

• Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling
• Eglin Air Force Base
• Hurlburt Field
• MacDill Air Force Base
• Patrick Air Force Base
• Pensacola Florida Military Bases
• Tyndall Air Force Base
• United States Southern Command
• Moody Air Force Base
• Robins Air Force Base
• Hickam Air Force Base
• Joint Base Pearl Harbor - Hickam
• Oahu Hawaii Military Bases
• Mountain Home Air Force Base
• Scott AFB Guide
• Grissom Air Reserve Base
• McConnell Air Force Base
• Barksdale Air Force Base
• Andrews Air Force Base
• Joint Base Andrews

Massachusetts

• Hanscom Air Force Base

Mississippi

• Columbus Air Force Base
• Keesler Air Force Base
• Whiteman Air Force Base
• Malmstrom Air Force Base
• Offutt Air Force Base
• Creech Air Force Base
• Nellis Air Force Base
• Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
• Cannon Air Force Base
• Holloman Air Force Base
• Kirtland Air Force Base

North Carolina

• Fayetteville North Carolina Military Bases
• Seymour Johnson Air Force Base

North Dakota

• Grand Forks Air Force Base
• Minot Air Force Base
• Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
• Altus Air Force Base
• Tinker Air Force Base
• Vance Air Force Base

South Carolina

• Charleston Air Force Base
• Joint Base Charleston
• Shaw Air Force Base

South Dakota

• Ellsworth Air Force Base
• Dyess Air Force Base
• Goodfellow Air Force Base
• Joint Base San Antonio
• Lackland Air Force Base
• Laughlin Air Force Base
• Randolph Air Force Base
• Red River Army Depot
• Sheppard Air Force Base
• Hill Air Force Base
• Hampton Roads Military Bases
• Joint Base Langley-Eustis
• Langley Air Force Base
• Fairchild Air Force Base
• Joint Base Lewis-McChord
• McChord Field
• F. E. Warren Air Force Base
• Geilenkirchen NATO Air Base
• Ramstein Air Base
• Spangdahlem Air Base
• Andersen Air Force Base
• Aviano Air Base
• Kadena Air Base
• Misawa Air Base
• Yokota Air Base
• Kunsan Air Base
• Osan Air Base
• Moron Air Base
• Incirlik Air Base
• Izmir Air Station
• Team DoD-Turkey

United Kingdom

• RAF Alconbury, RAF Molesworth
• RAF Croughton, Fairford
• RAF Lakenheath
• RAF Mildenhall

• Remember me Not recommended on shared computers

Forgot your password?

Or sign in with one of these services

• General Discussion

Short tour info

By Guest vbguy01 August 20, 2009 in General Discussion

Recommended Posts

Guest vbguy01.

Anyone know of any short tour (365 day) locations, flying or otherwise besides Korea?

Link to comment

Share on other sites.

• Created 14 yr
• Last Reply 2 yr

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Homestar 8 posts

Recut 5 posts

ThreeHoler 4 posts

olevelo 4 posts

Jan 16 2011

Nov 10 2012

Popular Posts

March 5, 2018

If you're into NATO and Italian food, look up the DACCC at Poggio Renatico, Italy.  Sits in the middle of motor valley.  Two year accompanied remote because the nearest school for kids is a 1+30 drive

July 10, 2010

The same WOM was floating around when I did my last deployment in 2008. It was scheduled for 179, but I knew guys getting tagged again inside of 12 months. My replacement was delayed and I was in th

May 29, 2013

IPR doesn't assign short tour credit. Take your travel vouchers to career management over at the MPF along with the highlighted short tour table and you'll be good to go.

Guest Hueypilot812

AFPC has an expeditionary web page that has a listing of available 365-day extended deployments. Check there...lots of positions available for both rated (flying) and non-flying jobs. Most are either CAFTT (Iraq advisor mission) or CAPTF (Afghanistan advising mission) jobs.

Depends on your background. The C-12s are gone from Korea, but there's still fighters at Osan & Kunsan

F-15s and C-12s at Saudi under USMTM , as well as a lot of non-flying jobs that receive credit as staff and joint.

There is a huge difference between a short tour and a 365, namely two more weeks of leave for a short tour.

Saudi gives a month.

• 3 months later...

Guest cheap

Is there a non-concurrent amount of overseas TDY days that can add up to a short tour? If so, is there a cumulative timeframe limit for said TDYs?

yes and yes. It's on the AFPC website somewhere.

All sorts of Viper ETSS gigs .. Egypt, Poland, UAE, etc.

(live like a king, work sucks though)

• 6 months later...

Currently on a 120 and I have been asked to extend to 180+ for continuity with leadership's guarantee that I can knock out a short. My replacement's new RDD will ensure I get >185 days. Anyway my guys back home said yes but are concerned about the WOMs they've heard of dudes on ALO tours that have had ~189 days and not get short tour credit. Persco and support SQ/CC out here are saying that if I get 180+ there is nothing they can do to keep me from getting short credit back home...

Any verified stories of guys spending 182-190ish days and not getting short tour credit? What was the issue?

Where is the reg or policy letter that states that 180+ qualifies as a short, haven't been able to track it down in the 36-series? It helps to be armed when going up against the MPF.

Any advice to make sure all squares get filled and I don't get fooked?

300 in 18 months. 548 in 3 years. Must be overseas of course.

I got mine for non-consecutive TDYs with no hassle whatsoever from MPF.

Table 3.5 of AFI 36-2110 is what you're looking for.

backseatdriver

Why does 548 in a 3 year period count for a short tour and 365 in a 3 year period count for a long tour? That doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me. Can anyone explain the reasoning?

Short tours are more beneficial to the member, so they're more difficult to get. The names seem backwards for that case, but shorts are usually shorter than longs.

Bump. Currently on a 120 and I have been asked to extend to 180+ for continuity with leadership's guarantee that I can knock out a short. My replacement's new RDD will ensure I get >185 days. Anyway my guys back home said yes but are concerned about the WOMs they've heard of dudes on ALO tours that have had ~189 days and not get short tour credit. Persco and support SQ/CC out here are saying that if I get 180+ there is nothing they can do to keep me from getting short credit back home... Any verified stories of guys spending 182-190ish days and not getting short tour credit? What was the issue? Where is the reg or policy letter that states that 180+ qualifies as a short, haven't been able to track it down in the 36-series? It helps to be armed when going up against the MPF. Any advice to make sure all squares get filled and I don't get fooked?

The same WOM was floating around when I did my last deployment in 2008. It was scheduled for 179, but I knew guys getting tagged again inside of 12 months. My replacement was delayed and I was in theater for 200 days. Everything I have ever seen still indicates 181+ is a short tour and will reset your return from overseas date. It worked in my case.

Edit: the one trick is to take your paid travel voucher over to MPF to get your overseas return date reset. It doesn't happen automatically.

In the table referenced by nunya, Row 16 says:

(If) Deployed to a hostile fire/imminent danger pay zone any time after 11 Sep 2001 until present...

(For) 181 consecutive days or more...

(Then) Give Airman credit for a completed short tour and award new ODSD and STRD to equal date of return from TDY.

And note 5 from the table says:

5. The only source document to be used to validate OS TDY is a copy of the paid travel voucher for each TDY claimed.

In the table referenced by nunya, Row 16 says: (If) Deployed to a hostile fire/imminent danger pay zone any time after 11 Sep 2001 until present... (For) 181 consecutive days or more... (Then) Give Airman credit for a completed short tour and award new ODSD and STRD to equal date of return from TDY. And note 5 from the table says: 5. The only source document to be used to validate OS TDY is a copy of the paid travel voucher for each TDY claimed.

Yep found the same source data. Persco is saying that because it was originally a 120, and the ULN changes at the 120 day mark (when my replacement should arrive), then they are treated as separate TDYS. Since the ULN changes overnight, the clock restarts at zero days. Their call to AFPC confirmed this. At least I found our before I extended, but this is something that should be addressed. I go to sleep and wake up in the same deployed place but the counter for a short tour resets because I "volunteered" to stay for consecutive 120s with different ULNs. At least I found our before I extended, but this is something that should be addressed. The man is always looking for a way to keep you down...

Guest Alarm Red

I find this extremely suspect. PERSCO has somewhere between zero and nothing to do with awarding short tour credit. The only way I can see this even remotely possible is if for Big Blue's accounting purposes they view it on their books as separate deployments, neither of which add up to a short tour. Even if that's the case, there is nothing on your paid travel voucher that shows MPF what ULN you are filling. Hell, you can even come back CONUS (emergency leave, TDYs, etc) then go back to the AOR and resume your countdown and still get the credit.

I used to hear the rumors that the USAF tracks this closely and will shepherd you on a plane to make sure you're gone at 179. Maybe for some units as a whole, but for an individual billet, it's total utter fiction.

Worked just fine for me last year in OEF; as a single billet there wasn't any oversight. No issues when I took my paid travel voucher to MPF and short tour was awarded on the spot.

Guest Crew Report

The top right of your CED orders have "variation authorized." If the ULN changes or not that's a moot point, you're still in country collecting HDP/HFP. I had a deployment to Ali Al Salem in '05, I ended up spending half of it in Balad. I was awarded the OIF campaign medal.

Variations Authorized

ChkHandleDn

I'm trying to get some info/differentiate between overseas short tours, long tours, remotes, and deployments such as CAOC tours. What are the differences between them? I'm browsing the AFI nunya posted and am under the impression that a short tour is one that is generally unaccompanied and less than 365 but can also be 18 months. And a long tour is any location accompanied or unaccompanied for 365+? These can either be flying and non flying right?

What generally drives the requirement to do a short or long tour? Are they mostly volunteer, or are people voluntold? What about the CAOC? Is that one of those mandatory check boxes in order to stay in? Also, does an overseas assignment to somewhere like Kadena count the same as any other long overseas or remote tour? Are all of these "highly recommended" at some point in the aviation career, meaning if you don't volunteer for them at least once in your career you can count on getting stuck with one later on? Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Also, does an overseas assignment to somewhere like Kadena count the same as any other long overseas or remote tour?

Yes - it counts as an overseas long. Not a remote. A remote would be a year tour in Korea, for example.

Are all of these "highly recommended" at some point in the aviation career, meaning if you don't volunteer for them at least once in your career you can count on getting stuck with one later on?

Short tour stuff, especially trying to learn from the AFIs, can get confusing quickly. Read relevant posts here and look around on the AFPC website. Assignments to Korea are pretty much all remote short tours. But if you get assigned to Osan, you could get command sponsorship for your spouse (permission to bring your family over). The 'standard' remote tour is one year but you can extend in six month or one year increments. However, if you extend all the way to three years, you will not get credit for a short tour. Depending on your airframe or job, you will probably have a short tour at some point in your career, so many volunteer in order to choose when/where they go. However, realize that if you volunteer straight out of training (can be a good idea), you may get voluntold for a second tour down the road. The number of volunteers you will find at a given short tour will depend greatly on how good or bad of a deal it is. Flying assignment in Korea - probably 100% volunteers. Coffee bitch at the Died - probably not.

sigmanugary

My two cents...

I did a 179er to Iraq and made sure to stay in theater a few extra days to get my Short Tour credit (185). It worked, I just brought my paid travel voucher to my MPF office and bam. I didn't say crap about it to my leadership and it is on my vMPF page with 7 months served in Iraq. The ribbon updated instantly (not that I care but I was amazed at how easy the process was). Also, I didn't have any issues with staying in theater longer, I worked for the Navy so what we call a Short Tour they call that just part of the job. The comment above about dudes volunteering for the 'Deid to avoid the actual AOR is shameful, we have too many "toy soldiers" as is...what a joke!

Coincidentally, our Sq/CC talked about all of this stuff yesterday. Good info!

My two cents... The comment above about dudes volunteering for the 'Deid to avoid the actual AOR is shameful, we have too many "toy soldiers" as is...what a joke!

Speaking of this, our boss also said that people that are getting voluntold to do a 365 are now doing the 3-day option and separating at 18 years of service, causing AFPC to consider doing away with the 3-day option entirely. I guess for anyone planning on doing their twenty, a 365 will be a requirement in the very near future.

• 2 months later...

If you're serving a 200 day TDY in the AOR, can your commander eliminate the short tour credit by sending you TDY outside of the AOR for a week? This would make the 181+ days non-consecutive.

Notes I see are this: "2. AIRMEN REQUIRED TO DEPART THE TDY LOCATION FOR SHORT PERIODS DUE TO MISSION REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE, WILL CONTINUE TO ACCUMULATE TDY CREDIT TOWARD THE 181 CONSECUTIVE DAY MINIMUM. HOWEVER, PERIODS SERVED OUT OF THE DESIGNATED LOCATION WILL NOT COUNT TOWARD THE 181 DAY REQUIREMENT. THE ACCUMULATION WILL RESUME UPON THE MEMBERS RETURN TO THE TDY LOCATION." - From AWARD OF PCS SHORT TOUR CREDIT FOR TDY (SUPERSEDES AL 8106 171955Z JUN 03 MESSAGE)

How do you know if MPF will consider said TDY a "Mission requirement"?

Guest Scooby

My two cents... I did a 179er to Iraq and made sure to stay in theater a few extra days to get my Short Tour credit (185). It worked, I just brought my paid travel voucher to my MPF office and bam. I didn't say crap about it to my leadership and it is on my vMPF page with 7 months served in Iraq. The ribbon updated instantly (not that I care but I was amazed at how easy the process was). Also, I didn't have any issues with staying in theater longer, I worked for the Navy so what we call a Short Tour they call that just part of the job. The comment above about dudes volunteering for the 'Deid to avoid the actual AOR is shameful, we have too many "toy soldiers" as is...what a joke!

Word on the street is that AFPC is raising the short tour requirement just for situations like that. I keep hearing different numbers (215 days, 250 days, etc.) but with the standard AF deployment finally being raised to 179 days, AFPC is tired of people staying a few extra days to get short tour credit. If you're in an AF billet they usually kicked you out prior to 180 days but the other services (and especially NATO) couldn't care less about AF policies so they're usually OK with people staying a few days later to get credit.

A couple of my friends have done this and while I'm happy for them, I'm pissed that the system can be gamed like that. Short tours are huge in the LRO world with the expectation that we'll do approx 6 in our careers (including 365s). To hear that people are getting short tour credit despite not doing anything close to a short tour is annoying because it just screws everyone else over. Glad to see that AFPC will be fixing this in the near future...

Why is the short tour discriminator out there? Now with them changing the rules of what a short tour is will previous short tours still count? How about we just use days deployed / contingency as a discriminator until these wars are behind us for 10+ years.

This way the d bag who has been deployed for precisely 185 days in his 15-17 years of service gets tagged for the 365 instead of the crew dog who has in excess of 4 years deployed for the same amount of time in service just doesn't have the short tour.

Why is the short tour discriminator out there? Now with them changing the rules of what a short tour is will previous short tours still count? How about we just use days deployed / contingency as a discriminator until these wars are behind us for 10+ years. This way the d bag who has been deployed for precisely 185 days in his 15-17 years of service gets tagged for the 365 instead of the crew dog who has in excess of 4 years deployed for the same amount of time in service just doesn't have the short tour.

Don't quote me on this but I'm fairly certain that you can get ST credit that way. There's the consecutive days served ST credit and then I believe there is also credit for serving a certain amount of days within a specific time frame. I'm not positive but I think I've heard something like that.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Already have an account? Sign in here.

• Existing user? Sign In
• Online Users
• All Activity
• My Activity Streams
• Unread Content
• Content I Started
• Leaderboard
• Create New...

Russian troops enter base housing US military in Niger, US official says

• Medium Text

Sign up here.

Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Writing by Idrees Ali; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Clarence Fernandez

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Phil Stewart has reported from more than 60 countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and South Sudan. An award-winning Washington-based national security reporter, Phil has appeared on NPR, PBS NewsHour, Fox News and other programs and moderated national security events, including at the Reagan National Defense Forum and the German Marshall Fund. He is a recipient of the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence and the Joe Galloway Award.

National security correspondent focusing on the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Reports on U.S. military activity and operations throughout the world and the impact that they have. Has reported from over two dozen countries to include Iraq, Afghanistan, and much of the Middle East, Asia and Europe. From Karachi, Pakistan.

World Chevron

Israel strikes eastern Rafah as ceasefire talks end with no deal

Israeli forces bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed U.S. President Joe Biden's threat to withhold weapons from Israel if it assaults the southern Gaza city.